No hot water from shower valve

[Lobster]

Am trying to sort out a shower valve which now only gives out cold water.

This is a Wickes own-brand mixer, not thermostatically controlled, is fed by a combi boiler, and formerly worked fine. Having removed it from the wall I've established that HW is definitely reaching it, so the problem is within the device and not the supply.

It has one knob, which turns on the flow and progressively increases the temperature as it rotates. It's apparent that the flow from the shower head actually falls off at the point when the water should be getting warmer presumably due to HW not being dialled in when it should be.

Pic of the beast is here:

I've already had most of it in bits and reassembled it in the hope that something that was stuck might have got freed up, to no avail.

Have to admit I don't really understand how it works - there seem to be several pistonny bits and sliding seals in there. Nothing looks 'broken' as such.

Has anyone come across one like this, and/or know what the problem might be?

Thanks David

[auctions]

Is it definitely just a mixer? It looks a bit like a venturi shower - I think wickes used to sell the H2O one. If it is, it's not designed to work off a combi, it needs a hot water tank. It might work for a while on a combi, but the pressure on the hot side would cause a problem in the end.best bet would be to replace it with a simple mixer like

I'm wrong, and it is an ordinary mixer, I've no idea what the problem is, and it might be easier to replace with something like :)

A A

[Lobster]

Well - this is a Wickes H2O shower but I'm as sure as I can be it's not a venturi model. The instructions make no mention of this and describe it as a "hydro powered shower"; and it specifically mentions combi systems as being suitable. It's worked fine for about 3-4 years.

Maybe H20 refers/referred to Wickes whole range, rather than a specific model?

I really don't want to have to replace it with a different model as it would involve redoing the concealed pipework and retiling - if nobody here can give me steer on repair I'm going to try and source spare innards for the existing device via Wickes (however I can't believe it's not fixable!)

Thanks David

[auctions]

The H2O "hydro powered shower" is a venturi. It was manufactured by Croydex, so they may have spare parts still, although it's been discontinued for a while. I've not seen venturi showers that work with combis, but I haven't fitted an H2O so can't be sure. The venturi mechanism involves firing the water through a very small nozzle, so the most likely problem could be a blockage in the mechanism somewhere, although reports of split o rings and diaphragms seem to be common, so check any of those you can see.

Contact details for Croydex on

[Lobster]

bit for venturi showers and seeing how they work I'll have another go at dissassembly and see if I can see anything out of sorts.

I must admit I was a bit puzzled that there was so many moving parts inside the mixer when I dismantled it!

David